


up to the test

by AlmondRose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Codependency, Established Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, Future Fic, Hurt & Comfort, Identity Reveal, M/M, implied chlolya cause im trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:57:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14815253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: they lose everything.





	up to the test

Marinette wakes up in the hospital. 

 

Everything hurts and it takes her a minute to remember where she is, but when she does she sits up with a rush, and clutches her head, groaning. 

 

“Woah, Marinette, slow down,” a familiar voice says but Marinette ignores him. 

 

_ Hawkmoth.  _

 

He’s been defeated and it was--it was Gabriel Agreste, and Marinette doesn’t remember anything after the Miraculous Ladybug, and she leans over and cries, except crying  _ hurts.  _

 

“Marinette,” he says again, and this time his hand is on her arm. “Please.”

 

“W-what happened to Chat?” Marinette says, and she turns to look at her boyfriend. “How did I get here?”

 

“Someone called the police,” Luka says. “Nobody--nobody knows that you’re Ladybug. Whoever-it-was told the cops that you were hurt in the attack, and when they came they brought you here.”

 

“How did I get hurt?” Marinette asks, because she’s never been hurt after a Miraculous Ladybug before. 

 

“I don’t know,” Luka says. “But I think it might have to do with Tikki--”

 

“What?” Marinette asks, and she reaches up to feel her earlobes. There aren’t any earrings on her ears. “Where are my earrings? Where’s Tikki?”

 

Marinette feels a sob build up and the spot in her mind that had been an ever-constant presense, the presence she’s felt since she first got Tikki, is gone. Marinette chokes and Luka says, “I have your earrings, but…..”

 

He takes them out of his pocket and hands them to her; they fall uselessly on her hand. 

 

They aren’t red anymore, just a dull shade of grey, like cheap metal, and Marinette’s hands close around her useless miraculous and she cries. 

 

Luka moves to sit next to her, and rubs comforting circles on her back, and everything hurts and Tikki’s  _ gone  _ and she turns and falls on Luka’s chest, and he smells like--like the river and his cologne and  _ Luka,  _ and she cries on his shirt as he holds her. 

 

\---

 

When Marinette goes home, she stares at the bathroom mirror. Her ears haven’t been bare since she was fourteen and put the earrings back on to save Alya. 

 

Marinette stares at the dull silver earrings, and she puts them on. 

 

Her heart aches and her head still feels empty but--but at least her ears aren’t bare. 

 

\---

 

A long time ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir had decided that if they ever lost each other, they would meet up in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, which Chat had liked because he likes food, and Marinette had, of course, liked because it was where she had lived at the time. 

 

And now that she’s not Ladybug anymore, and she doesn’t know where Chat is, she sits outside her parents’ bakery every morning and waits. 

 

Sometimes Luka waits with her, and sometimes he doesn’t, but she’s always there. 

 

Marinette thinks that if Tikki were here, she’d tell her that she’s being ridiculous, but she’s not here and Marinette still feels her loss in the back of her head and in her heart and in her every movement, but Tikki’s not here and Marinette can wait, foolishly and as long as she wants, for her stupid cat to come by. 

 

Except--Marinette realizes, after the third or fourth day, that she doesn’t know  _ how  _ to find him. They both have secret identities, after all, and short of making a giant  _ I’M LADYBUG  _ sign, Marinette’s not sure how she’s supposed to tell him who she is, or figure out who he is. 

 

She buries her head in her hands and starts wearing pigtails again, like she did back when she first met Chat, because it’s still her signature, even after all these years, and she wants that to be a clue. 

 

She wears red when she can, and ties red ribbons in her hair, and she hopes that’ll be enough. 

 

\---

 

After Marinette’s waited for so many day’s she’s lost count (not really; it’s been thirteen days), she sees Adrien again. 

 

She hasn’t seen him since before Hawkmoth, and he looks beyond tired and lost and Marinette’s never seen him not model-perfect before but it makes sense, and belatedly Marinette remembers Hawkmoth’s identity and how Adrien must feel. 

 

“Adrien!” she says, and he turns and looks at her.

 

“Marinette,” he says, and he runs his fingers through his hair, which makes it stick up. “Hey.”

 

“Are you okay?” she says, and he shrugs, helplessly. 

 

“I’m lost,” he says, and Marinette says, “I’m so sorry, Adrien.”

 

“It’s not your fault,” Adrien says, and Marinette thinks,  _ it kind of is,  _ but she doesn’t say that. 

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asks instead, and Adrien blinks. 

 

“Well,” he says, and he hesitates before he pulls a thick envelope out of his bag. “Could you--give this to Alya? So she can give it to Ladybug?”

 

“What?” Marinette says, taking the envelope. It’s heavy, like something besides paper is inside. “Ladybug?”

 

“Yeah,” Adrien says. “I don’t know how to find her, but you can--Alya can find her, right?”

 

“I think so,” Marinette says, and she clutches the envelope tighter. 

 

Maybe at one point, she’d laugh at the irony, but now--now all she feels is sad. 

 

“Thank you so much,” Adrien says, and he looks like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. 

 

“No problem,” Marinette assures him, and then she says, “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Adrien says, absent-minded as he watches the people leaving Marinette’s parents’ bakery. “For sure.”

 

“Good,” Marinette says. “Take care.”

 

And she leaves, bewildered. 

 

\---

 

Once she gets home, she opens the envelope. Luka isn’t home and Marinette almost expects Tikki to rush out to greet her--but Tikki’s not here, either. Marinette reaches up to touch her dull earrings, a newly formed habit, and she dumps the contents of the envelope onto her lap. 

 

A small round package, wrapped in black tissue paper, and a note. Marinette opens the note.

 

_ Ladybug-- _

 

_ My father left this to me and I don’t want anything to do with it. Please get rid of it however you can.  _

 

_ \--Adrien  _

 

A little apprehensive and with a weight in her chest, Marinette opens the tissue paper to reveal a purple brooch. She doesn’t even have to touch it before a purple light shines and a pinkish purple blob forms. 

 

For a minute, Marinette and the kwami stare at each other in silence. 

 

“I am Nooroo,” the kwami says, finally. “You have been chosen--”

 

“No,” Marinette interrupts. “I haven’t been--Adrien gave me the miraculous so he wouldn’t have it anymore.”

 

“Adrien….Gabriel’s son?” Nooroo asks, looking afraid and confused. 

 

“Yeah,” Marinette says. 

 

“So Adrien chose you to be my new wielder?” 

 

“I think Adrien chose me to give you to Master Fu,” Marinette says. 

 

“H-how do you know Master Fu?” Nooroo asks. 

 

Marinette pushes her hair behind her ear and Nooroo flies up and inspects her earrings. 

 

“You’re Ladybug,” he gasps, and Marinette says, “I  _ was  _ Ladybug. Now I’m just--nothing.”

 

“That can’t be true,” Nooroo says, and he flies up to look Marinette in the eyes. Then he sags and says, “But Tikki’s gone, isn’t she?”

 

“Yeah,” Marinette says, and she sinks to the floor. She can’t cry, doesn’t know how anymore, but she rubs at her eyes anyway, and Nooroo curls up on Marinette’s neck, and it’s not Tikki but the weight is still familiar, and they sit like that for a long time. 

 

\----

 

Marinette supposes that she’s supposed to give the brooch to Master Fu, she doesn’t think she’s supposed to keep it. 

 

But--Marinette can’t bring herself to give Nooroo away. 

 

She misses Tikki like she’s lost an extension of herself, like a missing limb, and Nooroo’s not Tikki, but Nooroo is damaged and hurt and Marinette doesn’t know how to help, but she doesn’t really think that being locked in a brooch for the next however-many-years until Master Fu finds a new wielder will do any good, either.

  
Marinette doesn’t want Nooroo to replace Tikki, and she doesn’t want the butterfly miraculous powers. She doesn’t let Nooroo tell her how to transform, or even how his powers would work if used for good--she just keeps him around and talks to him. 

 

She doesn’t think Luka approves, but she can’t bear to keep secrets from him, so she pretends she doesn’t notice his disapproval.

 

\----

 

“How am I supposed to find Chat?” Marinette whispers into Luka’s chest. He shifts so he’s holding her tighter. 

 

“I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe that one guy--the one who gave you the miraculous--could help you?”

 

“Maybe,” Marinette says. 

 

“Marinette,” Luka says. “I know you love him, but please--don’t put your whole life on hold for this. Come to my show tomorrow, go to my mom’s birthday. You can’t--everyone will be so worried about you if you don’t get back to normal soon.”

 

“I don’t  _ feel  _ normal,” Marinette whispers. “I feel like I’m--like I’m an empty shell. I’m  _ nothing  _ without Ladybug, without Tikki, without--without Chat.”

 

“Mari,” Luka says. “That’s not--that’s not healthy.”

 

“I know,” Marinette says, and she wishes she could cry from frustration. She hasn’t been able to cry since the hospital, though, so she just heaves in gasping breaths and Luka brings her tighter and rubs her back and presses kisses to her forehead and says, “I wish I knew how to help.”

 

\----

 

Marinette goes to Luka’s concert, goes to his mom’s birthday. 

 

She calls Alya and pretends to be a person. 

 

Nooroo hides in her hair, against her neck, and the empty spot in her heart aches. 

 

\---

 

“Master Fu?” Marinette calls, and Luka clutches her hand tighter. 

 

Nobody had answered the door, Luka had pushed on the door which had swung open, and now they’re inside, but Master Fu doesn’t answer. 

 

“Wayazz?” Marinette tries, and there’s no response. 

 

The gramophone is gone, and the room is caked with a layer of dust. 

 

“I don’t like this,” Nooroo whispers, and Luka says, “Let’s get out of here.”

 

“Yeah,” Marinette says, and she looks around, and Luka tugs her out of the room. 

 

\----

 

Marinette runs into Adrien outside her bakery again. 

 

He looks worse than he did before, and Marinette looks him up and down and says, “When was the last time you slept?”

 

“Not recently,” Adrien admits, and Marinette grabs his hand. 

 

“Come on, then,” she says, and he lets her lead him away without complaint. 

 

They take the elevator to her apartment, even though it’s only one floor up, and she pushes him in her bed and fights back a blush because he’s in her bed and she says, “Okay, you have to sleep.”

 

“Marinette,” Adrien says, exasperated. “I’m not  _ choosing  _ to stay up.”

 

“Yeah, but you’re probably running yourself to the ground to distract yourself, and right now you can just try and take a quick nap, okay?”

 

“In my ex’s bed?” Adrien asks, raising his eyebrow, and Marinette blushes harder. She’d forgotten about that. 

 

“We also have a couch,” she says, and he pulls the covers up to his chin. 

 

“Okay, okay,” he says, then he closes his eyes and says, “Please don’t watch me sleep,” and Marinette excuses herself and closes her door and falls on her couch. 

 

“That was nice of you,” Nooroo says, and Marinette says, “I’m just helping my friend.”

 

And Adrien  _ is  _ just her friend--she’d been one hundred percent over him by the time she and Luka started dating. 

 

Of course, then she’d fallen in love with Chat Noir, but that’s a different story. 

 

“If you say so,” Nooroo says, and Marinette says, “I  _ do  _ say so, thank you.”

 

Nooroo laughs and the door opens and Marinette jumps up to throw her hands over Luka’s mouth before he can say anything.

 

“Adrien’s here,” she says in a whisper. “And he’s sleeping, so you have to be  _ quiet. _ ”

 

“On the couch?” Luka asks when Marinette moves her hands, and she sheepishly shakes her head. “You made him sleep in the bed?”

 

“I wasn’t about to offer him a couch,” Marinette says defensively, and Luka laughs softly and kisses her nose. 

 

“I don’t mind,” he says. “I’m glad to see you doing something again.”

 

“I guess so,” Marinette says, and then she says, “Nooroo thinks I still have a crush on Adrien.”

 

“Weren’t you the one with the feather hat?” Nooroo asks. “You seemed  _ pretty  _ infatuated.”

 

“That was a long time ago!” Marinette hisses, and Luka laughs. 

 

“Trust me, ‘Roo, she’s not pining over Adrien anymore,” he says, and Nooroo says, “And  _ you  _ aren’t, either?”

 

“Why would I pine when I have the amazing Marinette?” Luka says, and he puts his chin on Marinette’s head and she sticks her tounge out at Nooroo. 

 

“If you say so,” Nooroo says in a sing-songy voice and Luka says, “I  _ will  _ strangle you,” and Nooroo laughs.

 

\----

 

Adrien shuffles out of their room a few hours later, with his hair sticking up every which way in a way that reminds Marinette painfully of her  _ chaton.  _

 

“Thanks for loaning me your bed,” Adrien says. “I hope I wasn’t imposing.”

 

“No, you can stay as long as you like,” Luka says. 

 

“I might have to take you up on that,” Adrien says, and he falls on the couch. “My apartment is too  _ depressing.”  _

 

“I’m sorry,” Marinette says. “Have you been modeling at all?”

 

Adrien laughs bitterly. 

 

“What is there to model?” he says, gesturing around him. “My dad’s gone, and I’m one hundred percent free for the first time in my life, and I have  _ no idea  _ what to do with myself!”

 

“Play music?” Luka asks. “I could get you a part in my band, if you want.”

 

Adrien shakes his head. 

 

“Too many memories,” he says. “But thanks.”

 

“I’ve been helping at my parents’ bakery,” Marinette says. “Maybe you could, too?”

 

She hasn’t helped with her parents since before university, but she needed something to do. 

 

“That’s an idea,” Adrien muses. “I’ve been at your parents’ bakery so much anyway, I might as well do something productive.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” Marinette cheers, and Luka claps. 

 

“What do you want for dinner?” he asks. “We’re ordering takeout.”

 

“Oh,” Adrien says. “For me?”

 

“Why not?” Luka says, and Adrien says, “I guess you’re right. Chinese food?”

 

“Chinese it is,” Luka says, and he goes to make the call, which leaves Marinette and Adrien alone. 

 

“Are you for real okay?” Marinette asks, and Adrien sags, shakes his head. 

 

“I don’t think so,” he whispers. “I’m--I’m going through a lot.”

 

“I’m really sorry,” Marinette says, and she wonders how she can help. Maybe helping Adrien will help her, too. 

 

\----

 

Adrien crashes on their couch, and Luka flops on their bed, face first. 

 

“Marinette,” he moans, his voice muffled. “I don’t think I’m over Adrien, after all.”

 

“Poor baby,” Marinette says, and Luka rolls over. 

 

“This is no laughing matter,” he says. “I can’t still like him. We dated eons ago.”

 

“And when you did, I really thought you two were meant to be,” Marinette says. “Maybe it’s written in the stars!”

 

“You thought we were meant to be?” Luka asks. “But I thought you were in love with both of us.”

 

“Well, after you started dating I thought you were both gay,” Marinette says. “And after I found out you were bi I could like you again. But since I never found out if Adrien was bi, I still--I got over him.”

 

“Smart.” Luka says, and he rolls back over. This time, though, he lays his head on his arms, instead of planting it in the sheets. “You know, even  _ I  _ don’t know his sexuality? And we definitely talked about that a lot.”

 

“Well then, you’ll just have to pine from afar, and  _ I’ll,  _ for one, not be the one in a lovesick daze,” Marinette says triumphantly, and Luka says, “I’m pretty sure you’re still in a lovesick daze, Marinette.”

 

“But not in this situation,” Marinette says, and Luka says, “I suppose,” then he grabs her arms and pulls her on top of him and kisses her.

 

She kisses back, and Marinette’s pretty sure that this is the first time they’ve kissed since the hospital, but it’s also the first time anything’s made any sense, so she doesn’t bring it up. 

 

\----

 

Adrien says, “Thank you for letting me stay,” and he shifts so he’s laying on Luka’s lap, and Luka’s face turns red and Adrien’s grin goes away slowly, and he stares up at Luka. 

 

Marinette holds her breath, waiting for--something, and then Adrien shoots up and buries his face in his palms. 

 

“I’m an  _ idiot,” _ he says, and he starts breathing rapidly and Marinette slides from the kitchen to next to him, and she recites the breathing exercises that Tikki used to help her with, back when she first started getting panic attacks. 

 

Adrien sobs harder and Marinette isn’t sure what to do, so she wrings her hands helplessly and Luka hovers next to her, next to Adrien, and repeats, “breathe, breathe,” every few minutes and Marinette can’t tell if that actually helps anything or not. 

 

But after what seems like an eternity, Adrien’s breathing slows and he looks up. 

 

“I’m sorry,” he chokes out. “I’m just--I’m  _ so _ messed up right now.”

 

“It’s okay,” Marinette says. “You lost your dad.”

 

“Is it--is it awful that I’m actually relieved my dad is gone?” Adrien says, and tears shine at the edge of his eyes. “It’s not--I’m not upset about losing my dad. I just--I lost  _ everything else.” _

 

“I’m so sorry, Adrien,” Marinette says, and she pats his shoulder. She leaves her hand on his shoulder and he reaches up to touch it. For a minute they’re suspended in time but then the moment passes.

 

“Sorry for unloading all this on you,” Adrien says, wiping his eyes furiously. 

 

“Not a problem,” Luka says, and Marinette says, “I’ve been struggling with depression lately, too.”

 

“You have?” Adrien says, his eyes huge. Marinette nods. 

 

“I mean, it’s not really comparable to your situation, but--” She cuts off when Adrien scoops her into a hug. 

 

A few years ago, this would’ve made Marinette short-circuit, but now she just hugs him back and buries her face in his shoulder.

 

He smells like something familiar.

 

\----

 

When Marinette goes to the bakery, to wait, Adrien goes with her. 

 

“What are we doing?” he says, and they sit on the bench across from the bakery. 

 

“Waiting,” she says, and he doesn’t ask for what. “In the afternoons, I help my parents, and in the mornings, I wait.”

 

“Okay,” Adrien says. “Then I’ll wait with you.”

 

And he does.

 

\----

 

After her parents close the bakery for the night, they load Marinette and Adrien with far too much food and send them on their way. 

 

Marinette and Adrien walk together, and when they reach the crossroads--where Adrien turns one way and Marinette turns the other to get home--Adrien stops. 

 

He looks towards his house, and Marinette follows the movement. It doesn’t look any different than any street, but it’s somehow--foreboding. 

 

“Come on,” she says, nudging her head towards her and Luka’s apartment, and Adrien lights up with the light of a thousand suns and they head back home. 

 

\----

 

“Do you still play piano?” Luka asks, as the three of them are walking home from one of Luka’s concerts.

 

“No,” Adrien says. “I gave that up after high school.”

 

“You were good at it,” Luka says, and Adrien grins. 

 

“I was fine,” he says, and Marinette has never been musically inclined, but she sure likes listening to Luka’s music and, back in the day, she had liked listening to Adrien play piano, too. 

 

“Why’d you stop?” Marinette asks, and Adrien shrugs. 

 

“I was too busy,” he says. “And I didn’t really like it, to be honest.”

 

“Fair enough,” Luka says, and he swings his and Marinette’s hands wildly, and Marinette nudges him, and he hesitates a minute before he takes Adrien’s hand on his other side. 

 

Adrien starts, but he doesn’t pull away. Marinette grins, and then she thinks,  _ what if Chat were here?  _

 

Maybe he’d be on  _ her  _ other side, holding her hand, and he’d squeeze her hand and say, “All right, my lady?” and she’d say, “Of course, because I have you here,” and maybe she’d still be missing Tikki, and maybe he’d be missing Plagg, but it’d be alright, because they’d have each other. 

 

Marinette wipes at tears that aren’t there, and her eyes sting, and she flexes her unheld hand.

 

\----

 

She goes by herself to Master Fu, but he’s still not there. 

 

“Where do you think he is?” she asks, and Nooroo says, “I don’t know, Marinette. Maybe after...everything, he realized the miraculous wouldn’t be needed and left?”

 

“I don’t think so,” Marinette says. “Maybe.”

 

The fact that Fu left without Nooroo is unspoken between them; Marinette thinks that the things left unsaid are words enough. 

 

\----

 

Marinette comes home after a walk to see Adrien and Luka on the couch, huddled up close together.

 

Not close-close, but close in a perhaps-more-than-platonic manner, and they’re whispering. Marinette doesn’t want to interrupt their chat, or whatever, so she hopes they’re talking about something important and slides to her room to talk to Nooroo. 

 

\----

 

“Alya,” Marinette says, embroidering something onto a piece of fabric, because she has to get back into design  _ sometime  _ and it might as well be today, “do you have  _ any  _ clues about Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities?”

 

“No,” Alya says, her voice tinny and far away. Nooroo holds Marinette’s phone hear her face, like Tikki used to, which makes Marinette sad, except Nooroo likes to make faces at the conversations, which Tikki hadn’t done, so there’s that. 

 

“Are you sure?” Marinette asks, and she can hear Alya’s sigh, even from over the phone. 

 

“Trust me, I still get approximately a million messages a day on the Ladyblog about that,” Alya says, and Marinette can nearly  _ hear  _ Alya’s eyeroll, even from here. “I have no clue. Hey, speaking the Ladyblog, do you know who else asked me about Ladybug’s identity?”

 

“No,” Marinette says, picking a new thread color at random. 

 

“ _ Adrien,”  _ Alya says, with the same sing-songy voice she used to use in high school. Marinette huffs. 

 

“Come on, Alya,” she says, and Alya giggles. 

 

“You know I like to remember the good old days,” Alya says. “Back in high school, when nothing was complicated except physics and Chloe, and you couldn’t say two words around Adrien, and---”

 

“And you couldn’t get upset unless you wanted to be akumatized,” Marinette says dryly. “Yeah, super fun.”

 

“Buzzkill,” Alya says, and Marinette grins. 

 

“How  _ is  _ Chloe, anyway?”

 

“Fine,” Alya says. “She likes it out here. I do too, by the way.”

 

“I’m glad,” Marinette says. “Still miss you, though.”

 

Marinette thinks that if Alya still lived in Paris that she’d have told her about Ladybug and everything a  _ long  _ time ago. Maybe Chat had told Rena Rouge or Queen B a hint about his identity. Probably not, but maybe. And Marinette wanted to tell her because she was still her best friend, but it didn’t seem like an over-the-phone type of conversation. 

 

“Me too, girl,” Alya says. “Me too.”

 

\----

 

“What are you waiting for?” Adrien asks, and Marinette starts. 

 

It’d been a long time and she hadn’t thought he was ever gonna ask. She tugs at the pigtails she still wears in a desperate, vain hope. 

 

“My best friend,” she says, and Adrien nods in understanding. 

 

\----

 

Marinette wakes up and the other side of the bed is empty. 

 

She rolls out, holding onto Nooroo so he won’t fall off the spot between her neck and shoulder where he settles. Once she’s standing, she brings her hair over him and heads out into the hall towards the low murmur of voices. 

 

“What about Marinette?” Adrien says, his voice strained and fragile. 

 

“It’s called polyamory, Adrien,” Luka says. “She knows and she’s okay with it.”

 

“But--”

 

“She’s allowed to date other people, too,” Luka says. “Except, you know, she’s not going to find Chat Noir anytime soon, so--”

 

“Chat Noir?” Adrien says, and his voice is confused, and Marinette leans closer. 

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Luka says. “But I’m willing to try again--are you?”

 

There’s no response, at least not a verbal one, and Marinette goes back into her room, her heart knotted up in her throat.

 

\----

 

“Marinette,” Adrien says, while they’re walking to her parents’ bakery. “Luka said you had a crush on Chat Noir? Or something?”

 

“Oh, that,” Marinette says, trying to laugh. “It’s nothing.”

 

“Were you two close?” Adrien asks, and Marinette shrugs, says, “It doesn’t really matter, right? He’s gone, and I don’t know how to find him.”

 

“Oh,” Adrien says, deflating. “No clues? On him, or Ladybug?”

 

“No,” Marinette says. “Why would I….why would I know where Ladybug is?”

 

“I don’t know,” Adrien says. “Forget it.”

 

\----

 

Marinette sighs in frustration. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“I really  _ have  _ lost track of the days,” she says, and she stands up. “This is ridiculous.”

 

“Are you okay?” Adrien asks, and Marinette shakes her head. 

 

“Come on,” she says. “We’re going for a walk.”

 

Adrien stands up and follows her without comment. 

 

They arrive at Master Fu’s and Marinette knocks on the door; nobody answers. 

 

“Is everything okay?” Adrien says, putting his hand on her shoulder when she sags against the door. 

 

“ _ No,” _ she says. “He’s missing and he’s  _ I can’t find him  _ and all my sources have been exhausted except for  _ waiting  _ and I’ve been waiting for  _ months  _ and I’m starting to think I’ll  _ never  _ find him and I feel so  _ guilty  _ all the time and I feel like I’m missing like, half of myself and I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back and  _ why can’t Luka be enough?” _

 

Marinette gasps and Adrien turns her around, gently, and hugs her. 

 

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he says. “But I know you’ll get through this.”

 

“You can’t--” Marinette says, and she pushes him away, gently. “You should hate me.”

 

“Why?” Adrien says, confused. “Because we’re both dating the same dude?”

 

“ _ No,”  _ Marinette says, frustrated. She tears out the ribbons from her pigtails and lets her hair fall lose. “I’m  _ Ladybug,  _ dumbass.”

 

Adrien looks like he’s been hit over the head. 

 

“Your dad is  _ gone  _ because of me,” Marinette says, half-relishing in the confession and half feeling sick. “Your dad is gone and so is Chat, and now I’ll never be Ladybug again, and it’s  _ my stupid fault,  _ and maybe I deserve this whole situation, and--”

 

And Adrien kisses her.

 

Marinette shorts out for a second, then she flounders around for a second and pulls away. 

 

“ _ What,” _ she says, and Adrien laughs. She notes that he’s crying. “What.”

 

“Marinette,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “Ladybug.”

 

His hand is still on her cheek, and Marinette’s about to pull away, confused and fairly sure that they’re  _ both  _ cheating on Luka, when she registers something. 

 

She pulls his hand away, but doesn’t release it. Instead, she brings it up to her face to see the silvery ring on his right hand.

 

She’d known he wore a ring, of course, but she’s never looked at it before. 

 

It’s a dull shade of silver, like old, unpolished metal, and there’s a certain familiarity to it that--

 

“Chat?” she says, and she looks up at him, and he’s still crying, but now he’s smiling, softly and carefully, and a warm tear slides down her cheek, and Marinette feels the corners of her mouth begin to lift upwards, too. 

 

“My lady,” he says, so reverently it  _ hurts,  _ and she’s still holding his hand, but not in the good way, so she drops it and winds her arms around his neck and breathes, “ _ Chaton _ ,” into the oh-so-small space between them, and he kisses her again, but this time she kisses back. 

 

And it doesn’t fix much, not really, but--it makes her feel  _ hell  _ of a lot better. 

 

\----

 

“Are you ready?” Luka asks, close to Marinette’s ear. She swats at him. 

 

“Yes,” she says. 

 

“Are you sure?” Luka says, and she swats at him again. 

 

“ _ Yes.  _ Adrien?”

 

“I was born ready,” he says, but he looks a little pale so Marinette reaches out to squeeze his hand. Nooroo huffs from his spot in Adrien’s hair. 

 

“Just launch the thing already,” he moans, and Adrien says, “You sound like Plagg.”

 

“Take that back,” Nooroo says, and Adrien grins and squeezes Marinette’s hand. 

 

“Time to get out of my father’s shadow,” Adrien says, and Marinette says, “Time to stop lazing around.”

 

“Time for you to launch the website,” Luka reminds Marinette, and she glares at him and presses the button. 

 

“There!” she says, then she gasps and looks back at the screen. 

 

Her website---it’s real. 

 

It’s official. 

 

There are pictures of Adrien Agreste modeling Marinette Dupain-Cheng fashions that exist on the internet. 

 

Marinette could faint. 

 

“You know,” Nooroo says. “This feels good for me, too. No more Gabriel.”

 

“No more Gabriel,” Adrien agrees, and Marinette is so proud of them both. 

 

She squeezes Adrien’s hand again, and his phone rings from next to her keyboard. 

 

“Chloe,” Adrien says. “Excuse me, I’m gonna take this.”

 

“No problem,” Marinette says, and he takes the phone and heads to another room for some privacy. Luka nudges Marinette and says, “Hey.”

 

“Hey,” she says back. 

 

“I’m proud of you,” he says, and she grins at him. He kisses the tip of her nose and she gasps in mock-outrage. He sprints away and she follows him, chasing him around the apartment and disrupting Adrien  _ far  _ too much on his phone call. 

 

\----

 

They’re walking home from the bakery, and Adrien says, “Remember how we always used to run into each other here, my lady? I think we were waiting for each other.”

 

“Don’t remind me,” Marinette groans, frustrated because she had lost  _ so much time  _ with Adrien. 

 

“That’s cute, in a sad sort of way,” Luka says, and Marinette says, “You pined just as much as we did, you have no right to be mean.”

 

Luka makes a face and Adrien says, “I don’t know, bugaboo, maybe he can be a little mean.”

 

“Thank you, Adrien,” Luka says, and Marinette pretends she’s offended. 

 

“This is why we never got into a relationship while we were partners, kitty,” she says, sticking her nose in the air and marching forward. Adrien and Luka both scramble to catch up with her and she grins. Adrien grabs her hand and says, “Could you  _ ever  _ forgive us, my lady?” and Luka grabs her other hand and just squeezes it. 

 

She understands, and she squeezes both hands back.

 

Nothing is perfect, obviously, because Marinette still misses Tikki like she’s missing a limb, and Adrien compulsively buys camembert and doesn’t eat it, just lets it sit and rot, and Marinette knows that sometimes Luka cries when he thinks they can’t see, and she cut most of her hair off last week on a crazy impulse, but she thinks she’s getting better, that they all are. 

 

Either way, she has Luka’s hand on one side and Chat Noir’s on the other, and she knows that everything’s gonna be okay, one way or another. 

 

And that’s--that’s all she really needs. 

**Author's Note:**

> a couple things:
> 
> -i really like the idea of the kwami and their holders to have a sort of codependent bond. idk why  
> -idk where master fu is, don't even ask. i just didn't want him to be there  
> -marinette & noorro have a regular friendship, nothing codependent, because the codependency starts after transformation & they never transform  
> -alya and chloe are together and moved to [other city in france cause im a dumbass who doesn't know anything about france] cause i figured like...it's unrealistic for everyone from hs to stay in the same city, ya know? and sometimes it breaks friendships up (which is sad, but also real???? and marinette and alya still talk, and stuff, you know)  
> -when alya & chloe moved for college or whatever, they revealed their identities to chat & lb and were like "in case you need to get in touch >:3" but chat and lb didn't return the favor cause they figured they wouldn't need to :(  
> -uhhhhhhhh marinette was always a lil anal about secret identites but she told luka cause she felt AWFUL keeping secrets from him  
> -luka and adrien broke up because adrien DIDN'T tell him and the secret-keeping was too much on both sides :/  
> -idk where tikki & plagg are!!!!!! i'm guessing they're like, trapped in their miraculouses??? i really want adrien and marinette to get them back though :0000
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> thanks for reading!!!!!!!! comments & kudos always loved <333


End file.
